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The Beer Portal

Introduction

P:Beer

Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the grain to sugars, which dissolve in water to form wort. Fermentation of the wort by yeast produces ethanol and carbonation in the beer. Beer is one of the oldest alcoholic drinks in the world, the most widely consumed, and the third most popular drink after water and tea. Most modern beer is brewed with hops, which add bitterness and other flavours and act as a natural preservative and stabilising agent. Other flavouring agents, such as gruit, herbs, or fruits, may be included or used instead of hops. In commercial brewing, natural carbonation is often replaced with forced carbonation.

Beer is distributed in bottles and cans, and is commonly available on draught in pubs and bars. The brewing industry is a global business, consisting of several dominant multinational companies and many thousands of smaller producers ranging from brewpubs to regional breweries. The strength of modern beer is usually around 4% to 6% alcohol by volume (ABV).

Some of the earliest writings mention the production and distribution of beer: the Code of Hammurabi included laws regulating it, while "The Hymn to Ninkasi", a prayer to the Mesopotamian goddess of beer, contains a recipe for it. Beer forms part of the culture of many nations and is associated with social traditions such as beer festivals, as well as activities like pub crawling, pub quizzes, and pub games. (Full article...)

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Image 1
The Caledonian Brewery in Edinburgh in 2005

Beer in Scotland is mostly produced by breweries in the central Lowlands, which also contain the main centres of population. Edinburgh and Alloa in particular became noted for the export of beer around the world in the 19th century. (Full article...)
Image 2
Beer in India has been prepared from rice or millet for thousands of years. In the 18th century, the British introduced European beer to India. Beer is not as popular as stronger alcoholic beverages like desi daru and Indian-made foreign liquor, such as Indian whiskey. The most popular beers in India are strong beers.

Beer-like sura has been produced in India since the Vedic era (c. 1500–1200 BCE, Rig Veda), rice beer has been produced by the native tribes since ancient times, European beer imports to India from England started in 1716, introduced by the British raj. Lion beer, produced continuously since the 1820s, is Asia's first beer brand, and the first Indian brewed European style beer. (Full article...)
Image 3
Beer glassware (from left to right): Pilstulpe, tasting glass, snifter, Willibecher

Beer glassware comprise vessels, today usually made of glass, designed or commonly used for serving and drinking beer. Styles of beer glasses vary in accord with national or regional traditions; legal or customary requirements regarding serving measures and fill lines; such practicalities as breakage avoidance in washing, stacking or storage; commercial promotion by breweries; artistic or cultural expression in folk art or as novelty items or usage in drinking games; or to complement, to enhance, or to otherwise affect a particular type of beer's temperature, appearance and aroma, as in the case of its head.
Drinking vessels intended for beer are made from a variety of materials other than glass, including pottery, pewter, and wood.

In many countries, beer glasses are served placed on a paperboard beer mat, usually printed with brand advertising, in commercial settings. (Full article...)
Image 4
Beers with Authentic Trappist Product label from Trappist breweries in 2015: Achel, Chimay, Engelszell, La Trappe, Orval, Spencer, Rochefort, Tre Fontane, Westmalle, Westvleteren, and Zundert (not pictured: Mount St Bernard Abbey)

Trappist beer is brewed by Trappist monks. Thirteen Trappist monasteries—six in Belgium, two in the Netherlands, and one each in Austria, Italy, England, France, and Spain— produce beer, but the Authentic Trappist Product label is assigned by the International Trappist Association (ITA) to just ten breweries that meet their strict criteria. As of 2021^[update], Achel is no longer recognized as a Trappist brewery because it does not have any monks. (Full article...)
Image 5
Beer brewed following a 13th-century recipe using gruit herbs

Gruit (pronounced /ˈɡraɪt/; alternatively grut or gruyt) is a herb mixture used for bittering and flavouring beer, popular before the extensive use of hops. The terms gruit and grut ale may also refer to the beverage produced using gruit. Today, however, gruit is a colloquial term applied to a beer produced with hops, that is seasoned with gruit-like herbs. (Full article...)
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The first hard soda was modeled after the beverage pictured here, root beer. According to Not Your Father's Root Beer, it is an ale that contains sarsaparilla, wintergreen, anise and vanilla.

Hard soda, also referred to as flavored beer, adult soda, fermented soda, mature soda and alcohol soda, is a type of alcoholic beverage and craft beer that is manufactured in the style of a soft drink. It has gained recent prominence in the United States after the success of the Not Your Father's Root Beer brand manufactured by Small Town Brewery. As of late May 2016, at least 39 hard soda brands exist in the United States. (Full article...)
Image 7

Ethanol (also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound with the chemical formula CH₃CH₂OH. It is an alcohol, with its formula also written as C₂H₅OH, C₂H₆O or EtOH, where Et stands for ethyl. Ethanol is a volatile, flammable, colorless liquid with a characteristic wine-like odor and pungent taste. In nature, grape-sugar breaks up by the action of fermentation into alcohol or carbonic acid, without anything being added. As a psychoactive depressant, it is the active ingredient in alcoholic beverages, and the second most consumed drug globally behind caffeine.

Ethanol is naturally produced by the fermentation process of sugars by yeasts or via petrochemical processes such as ethylene hydration. Historically it was used as a general anesthetic, and has modern medical applications as an antiseptic, disinfectant, solvent for some medications, and antidote for methanol poisoning and ethylene glycol poisoning. It is used as a chemical solvent and in the synthesis of organic compounds, and as a fuel source for lamps, stoves, and internal combustion engines. Ethanol also can be dehydrated to make ethylene, an important chemical feedstock. As of 2023, world production of ethanol fuel was 29,590,000,000 US gallons (112.0 gigalitres), coming mostly from the U.S. (51%) and Brazil (26%). (Full article...)
Image 8
A bottle of Vitamalz German non-alcoholic malt beer (Malzbier)

Malt beer is a sweet, low-alcohol beer (0–2.5% ABV) that is brewed like regular beer but with low or minimal fermentation. To keep the alcohol content low, one of two methods may be used: either the yeast is added at about 0 °C (resulting in an alcohol content of under 0.5% ABV) or fermentation is halted at the desired alcohol content (usually in the range of 1 to 2% ABV). It is made from barley malt syrup, sugar, yeast, hops, and water.

Malt beer is considered to be nutritious and is sometimes given to breastfeeding mothers. Among the ancient Egyptians, their form of malt beer (zythum) was considered to work as both a laxative and antidiarrheal; it was considered dangerous, however, for the sick or pregnant to drink it. (Full article...)
Image 9
Bottles of beers from several Canadian-based breweries placed on a table being used to play beer pong

Beer was introduced to Canada by European settlers in the seventeenth century. The first commercial brewery was La Brasseries du Roy started by New France Intendant Jean Talon, in Québec City in 1668. Many commercial brewers thrived until prohibition in Canada. The provincial and federal governments' attempt to eliminate "intoxicating" beverages led to the closing of nearly three quarters of breweries between 1878 and 1928. It was only in the second half of the twentieth century that a significant number of new breweries opened up. The Canadian beer industry now plays an important role in Canadian identity, although globalization of the brewing industry has seen the major players in Canada acquired by or merged with foreign companies, notably its three largest beer producers: Labatt, Molson and Sleeman. The result is that Moosehead, with an estimated 3.8 percent share of the domestic market in 2016, has become the largest fully Canadian-owned brewer.

Beer sales have been sluggish overall in volume and in growth in industry revenue as other beverages have increased in popularity. Growth in revenue for beer makers averaged 1.3 per cent per year during 2011-2016; the estimated annual growth over the subsequent five years is only 0.4 percent per annum. Nonetheless, the number of licensed breweries in Canada increased from 310 in 2010 to 640 in 2015. Many of these are small operations since there were only 30 large (making over 7.5 million litres per year) breweries in 2015. (Full article...)
Image 10
A glass of porter, showing characteristic dark body

Porter is a style of beer that was developed in London, England, in the early 18th century. It is well-hopped and dark in appearance owing to the use of brown malt. The name is believed to have originated from its popularity with porters. Porter is a type of ale.

Porter became the first beer style brewed around the world, being produced in Ireland, North America, Sweden, and Russia by the end of the 18th century. (Full article...)
Image 11
A bag of wheat, often used as an adjunct

In brewing, adjuncts are unmalted grains (such as barley, wheat, maize, rice, rye, and oats) or grain products used in brewing beer which supplement the main mash ingredient (such as malted barley). This is often done with the intention of cutting costs, but sometimes also to create an additional feature, such as better foam retention, flavours or nutritional value or additives. Both solid and liquid adjuncts are commonly used. (Full article...)
Image 12

A modern Belgian tafelbier

Small beer (also known as small ale or table beer) is a lager or ale that contains a lower amount of alcohol by volume than most others, usually between 0.5% and 2.8%. Sometimes unfiltered and porridge-like, it was a favoured drink in Medieval Europe and colonial North America compared with more expensive beer containing higher levels of alcohol. Small beer was also produced in households for consumption by children and by servants. (Full article...)
Image 13
Craft brewing at Allagash in Portland, Maine

Craft beer is beer manufactured by craft breweries, which typically produce smaller amounts of beer than larger "macro" breweries and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as emphasising enthusiasm, new flavours, and varied brewing techniques.

The microbrewery movement began in both the United States and United Kingdom in the 1970s, although traditional artisanal brewing existed in Europe for centuries and subsequently spread to other countries. As the movement grew, and some breweries expanded their production and distribution, the more encompassing concept of craft brewing emerged. A brewpub is a pub that brews its own beer for sale on the premises. (Full article...)
Image 14
Stoneware beer steins

A beer stein (/ˈstaɪn/ STYNE), or simply stein, is either a traditional beer mug made out of stoneware or specifically an ornamental beer mug sold as a souvenir or collectible. An 1894 article on beer mugs in the American Vogue magazine that describes various types of steins stated: "And it is to this [i.e. German] nation that we owe Wagner's music and the apotheosis of the beer mug."

Such steins may be made out of stoneware, pewter, porcelain or even silver, wood or crystal glass; they may have open tops or hinged pewter lids with a thumb-lever. Steins usually come in sizes of a half litre or a full litre (or comparable historic sizes). Like decorative tankards, they are often decorated in a nostalgic manner with allusions to Germany. (Full article...)
Image 15
The previous location of AleSmith Brewing Company in San Diego

San Diego County, California, has been called "the Craft Beer Capital of America". As of 2018^[update], the county was home to 155 licensed craft breweries – the most of any county in the United States. Based on 2016 sales volume, three San Diego County breweries – Stone, Green Flash, and Karl Strauss – rank among the 50 largest craft brewers in the United States. San Diego County brewers pioneered the specialty beer style known as Double India Pale Ale (Double IPA), sometimes called San Diego Pale Ale. Its beer culture is a draw for tourism, particularly during major festivals such as San Diego Beer Week and the San Diego International Beer Competition. San Diego County breweries including Stone Brewing Co., AleSmith Brewing Company and Ballast Point Brewing Company are consistently rated among the top breweries in the world. (Full article...)

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Boddingtons Bitter is a straw-golden bitter beer originally produced by Boddington & Co at their Strangeways Brewery in Manchester. It is now owned by AB-InBev and produced at their brewery in Samlesbury, Lancashire.

It is notable as one of the first beers to be packaged in cans containing a widget, giving it a creamy draught-style head. In the 1990s, the beer was heavily marketed as The Cream of Manchester in an advertising campaign credited with raising the city's profile. Adverts from 1996 to 1999 featured Melanie Sykes, who returned to the adverts in 2017 to mark 21 years since her first advert. (Full article...)

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Josef Groll (German: Joseph Groll; 21 August 1813 – 22 November 1887) was a German brewer, best known for being the first brewer of Pilsner beer. He is sometimes called "the Father of the Pilsner". The world's first-ever pale lager, Pilsner Urquell was highly successful, and served as the inspiration for more than two-thirds of the beer produced in the world today. (Full article...)

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... that 100 beerhouses were licensed in Brighton (population 40,000) in the first week after the Beerhouse Act 1830 was enacted?
... that weightlifter Wu Tsai-fu drank six huge glasses of beer to help himself urinate for a drug test?
... that the patu clubs on the New Zealand threepence were compared to bottles of ginger beer?
... that Jaega Wise co-hosted the television series Beer Masters alongside musician James Blunt?
... that some online social and "Barstool conservatives" spent their Christmas holidays arguing about whether a beer promotional calendar was "demonic"?
... that a beer named after the barley variety Golden Promise was not brewed using the variety?

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General images

The following are images from various beer- and brewing-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Casks of real ale from British microbreweries at a beer festival (from Craft beer)
Image 2World beer consumption per capita (from History of beer)
Image 3Bottling beer in a modern facility, 1945, Australia (from History of beer)
Image 4Hop cone grown in a hop field, Hallertau, Germany (from Brewing)
Image 5Microbreweries, regional breweries, and brew pubs per capita (from Craft beer)
Image 6Irish Craft Beer Festival, 2015 (from Craft beer)
Image 7Brew kettles at Brasserie La Choulette in France (from Brewing)
Image 8Dogo Beer from Minakuchi-shuzō microbrewery in Matsuyama, Japan (from Craft beer)
Image 9Conditioning tanks at Anchor Brewing Company (from Brewing)
Image 10Philistine pottery beer jug (from History of beer)
Image 11Modern closed fermentation vessels (from Brewing)
Image 12Spent grain, a brewing by-product (from Brewing)
Image 13A replica of ancient Egyptian beer, brewed from emmer wheat by the Courage brewery in 1996 (from History of beer)
Image 14Craft brewing at Allagash in Portland, Maine (from Craft beer)
Image 15A yard of ale at Jolly Brewery, Taiwan (from Craft beer)
Image 16Rock mortars in Raqefet Cave, used to make beer during the Stone Age. (from History of beer)
Image 17Zoigl beers from the communal brewhouses of Oberpfalz in Germany (from Craft beer)
Image 18Mexican craft beer from Tequixquiac in Zumpango Region (from Craft beer)
Image 19D. G. Yuengling & Son is the oldest operating brewing company in the US, established in 1829. It is also the largest craft brewer, and the 6th largest brewing company overall. (from Craft beer)
Image 20Bergenhus microbrewery, Bergen, Norway (from Craft beer)
Image 21Bill Urquhart at Litchborough Brewery (from Craft beer)
Image 22Great Leap Brewing operates a chain of brewpubs in China (from Craft beer)
Image 23Steamworks Brewing, Vancouver (from Craft beer)
Image 24Cask ales with gravity dispense at a beer festival (from Brewing)
Image 25A beer sommelier tapping a barrel for a taste at Nebraska Brewing Company (from Craft beer)
Image 26Spontaneous fermentation at Timmermans in Belgium (from Brewing)
Image 27A growler of beer from Flounder Brewing, a nanobrewery in New Jersey, US (from Craft beer)
Image 28Castaña, a smoked beer with chestnuts from Cerex in Extremadura, Spain (from Craft beer)
Image 29A selection of French craft beers (from Craft beer)
Image 30A funerary model of a bakery and brewery, from the Eleventh dynasty of Egypt, c. 2009–1998 BCE (from History of beer)
Image 31The Caledonian Brewery, founded in 1869, Edinburgh, Scotland (from History of beer)
Image 32Alulu beer receipt recording a purchase of "best" beer from a brewer, c. 2050 BCE, from the Sumerian city of Umma in ancient Iraq. (from History of beer)
Image 33A can of Juicy Ass IPA from Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery in Barrie, Ontario, Canada (from Craft beer)
Image 34A hydrometer measures beer's specific gravity (from History of beer)
Image 35A mash tun at the Bass Museum in Burton-upon-Trent (from Brewing)
Image 36Traditional fermenting building (center) and modern fermenting building (left) in Pilsner Urquell Brewery (Czech Republic) (from History of beer)
Image 37Gambrinus – king of beer (from History of beer)
Image 38Smoked beer from the Schlenkerla brewpub in Bamberg, Germany (from Craft beer)
Image 39A 16th-century brewery (from Brewing)
Image 40Robohop, a session IPA from Cervisiam in Oslo, Norway (from Craft beer)
Image 41Yeast ring used by Swedish homebrewers in the 19th century to preserve the yeast between brewing sessions. (from History of beer)
Image 42The Alulu beer receipt records a purchase of "best" beer from a brewer, c. 2050 BC, from the Sumerian city of Umma in Mesopotamia (ancient Iraq). (from Brewing)
Image 43Põhjala Brewery, Estonia (from Craft beer)
Image 44Open vessels showing fermentation taking place (from Brewing)
Image 45Pasteur Street Brewing, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (from Craft beer)
Image 46Diatomaceous earth, used to create a filtration bed (from Brewing)
Image 47Lauter tun (from Brewing)
Image 48Malted barley before kilning or roasting (from Brewing)
Image 49A 16th-century brewery (from History of beer)